Linguistic theory, historical linguistics and language variation as applied to the English language Edinburgh has a long and illustrious history of investigating the linguistics of English and Scots, both synchronic and diachronic. Researchers in Edinburgh benefit from an enormous body of collectively-available knowledge about these areas. We consider how linguistic theory can be developed in relation to English and how English can be better understood through the insights offered by linguistic theory, and we work on aspects of historical and variationist linguistics.Some of this work has been carried out under the umbrella of the Angus McIntosh Centre for Historical Linguistics (previously the Institute for Historical Dialectology).PeopleStaff working in this area include:NameResearch interestsClaire CowieWorld Englishes; language contact; morphogical productivity; pragmaticsNikolas GisborneSyntax, particularly dependency theory and word grammar; events and event structure; lexical semantics; language changeLauren Hall-LewSociolinguistics; sociophonetics; phonetic methods; English variation and change; language and ethnicity; language and tourismCaroline HeycockSyntactic theory; syntactic variation and change; Germanic; Japanese; syntax of Scottish varietiesPatrick HoneybonePhonological theory; historical phonology; variation in English in Northern EnglandPavel IosadTheoretical phonology; phonological interfaces; historical phonology; Celtic languages; Germanic languagesBettelou LosHistorical syntax; early Germanic; Old English; history of English; Information Structure/Discourse StructureWarren MaguireDialectology; varieties of English and Scots; phonetic and phonological variation and change.Benjamin MolineauxPhonology; historical linguistics; prosody; morphologyMichael RamsammyExperimental and theoretical phonology; phonological change; Creole Englishes; articulatory phoneticsGraeme TrousdaleConstructional approaches to variation and change in EnglishLinda van BergenHistory of English (especially Old and Middle English); English historical syntaxYou can also see what our current and recent postgraduate students are studying.Current and recent postgraduate studentsPostgraduate studyMSc English LanguagePhD and MSc by Research programmesMeetingsThe English Language Research Group runs a regular research seminar series, and members are all active in publishing their research, and in organising and presenting at conferences. We regularly attract visiting scholars, who benefit from and contribute to the research environment.English language seminars This article was published on 2024-10-14
